As you have probably noticed by looking over this page, you will notice a change from what has been done previously.

After time thinking and pondering, we have decided to make what we call style changes to the Opinion page of The Daily Courier.

The biggest change is the fact that comments from our Facebook page, which normally held a spot on the page daily, is no longer here.

We have spent time, as any business does, evaluating what we do and how we do it. Over the course of that evaluation, we decided it best to remove the comments from Facebook in lieu of hoping to open the door to more Letters to the Editor.

Now, that was not the sole purpose for the change.

Initially, we thought it would be good to utilize our Facebook comments to give readers a voice on particular topics or questions and cross that over by putting them in the paper.

However, after some very careful thought, we learned that there is a distinct difference between the audience that reads The Daily Courier in print and those that might be on Facebook. It is not an across-the-board difference but, there is a difference nonetheless.

We also wanted to bolster our Opinion page with more thought-provoking commentary from a wide-range of individuals.

So, over the last few weeks, we have been working to get a lineup of columnists that range from political to academia and more in-between.

The intent is to find some kind of editorial balance, politically, between the left, the right and the middle. So, we have looked at columnists, locally, statewide and nationally, that can provide some semblance of that balance.

You might not agree with a columnist and, it is certainly your right to express that to me at any time. But, like I said, we are hoping to run columns from both sides of the spectrum.

Another change that is not readily apparent to the reader is our editorial cartoons.

Over this same process, we wanted to bring the syndication selection of our editorial cartoons more in-house, leaving it up to me, the Editor, to find what we run and what we don't.

We have scoured various syndications to find what will work and what won't.

Again, we are looking for balance. That being said, just like with columnists, there will be days you like what a cartoonist is conveying and other days, you won't.

It is our job to be fair and objective when we select our editorial content.

Like always, you will get columns from Erin Kidd, Jean Gordon, Travis Durkee, Wanda Moeller and myself throughout the week.

As with our Facebook comments, we will still place questions on our page daily for you to opine as you see fit.

We certainly hope you like the changes we have made and, rest assured, there are more changes being discussed.

Like always, if readers have any comments, questions or concerns, my door is always open and my phone is always there so, feel free to contact me at any time.

Matthew Clark is the Editor of The Daily Courier. He can be reached at 828-202-2927 or emailed at mclark@thedigitalcourier.com. Follow him on Twitter @UMass_MClark